


Cutting it Off at the Source

by PrincessLunaLover



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Attempted Suicide, Other, and be happy, anyone else read the summer event?, blahblah Lancelot's a deadbeat blah stop VICTIM BLAMING HIM FOR WHAT ELAINE DID, galahad is angry and nineteen, he didn't even know, it's great, it's one of those stories, let him have kids, pseudo new father daughter bond, saber lancelot doing his thing with disguises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25840510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessLunaLover/pseuds/PrincessLunaLover
Summary: Nobody talks about Berserker Lancelot, the grieving knight, for all he speaks in are growls. Mash stumbles across him activating a Rayshift to Camelot, and the betrayer knight deciding to punish himself to prevent his kingdom's death from ever happening.
Relationships: Galahad | Shielder/Lancelot of the Lake | Berserker, Galahad | Shielder/Mash Kyrielight | Shielder, Mash Kyrielight | Shielder & Lancelot of the Lake | Berserker
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	Cutting it Off at the Source

Galahad hated Lancelot.

Galahad hated his ridiculous disguises, his womanizing, his impulsiveness, and his violent way of acting. Galahad hated his ego, his behavior, his way of speaking—all of it, for all of it was arrogant and childish and all of it had lead to the deaths of Camelot, and everyone whom he had loved.

At least, that was what Galahad had been told. He had not been there, in the end.

Much like his father, he supposed.

Galahad hated Lancelot, though he felt almost nothing for Berserker.

The Black Knight was less Lancelot, and more a vehicle for destruction. Spreading himself like an infection, black and red stains on everything he touched. He did not exist, but for a scream of pain and constant cries to be punished.

Galahad hated Lancelot, and even he himself did not know why he came to stop the other.

Galahad wrapped his arms around the knight from behind, holding him back by his waist while Lancelot dropped the sword on the ground, steel clattering against the tile as he looked down at the embracing grasp, glancing back towards his son.

“Galahad?”

His voice was calm, like he perfectly expected the other to show up.

“No…it’s just Mash know, isn’t it? You are such a kind girl. But you should really go back to Fujimara. She would be lost without you.”

They were standing in the room that Lancelot had fled to, long ago, after realizing the trick that Lady Elaine had pulled on them. He had fled the castle, in the middle of the night, to the next town over, staying at an inn.

Lancelot—the future version—had locked the door. He had used one of the spell gems that he had taken from Chaldea’s source to put his past self in sleep. He had made sure to remove his anti-magic ring on his past self to do so—and he had been holding Secace directly over his past self’s face.

A sleeping magus was on the floor, one of Chaldea’s workers who had activated the Rayshift, after Berserker had pointed at Camelot’s singularity. Lancelot was a liar, and not a fool. He had played to Berserker’s usual form of madness to get what he wished. The magus had been kind to give him that—just a visit to his home.

Lancelot’s madness had not left. It had only changed.

Berserker’s madness did. The long hair, the pointed teeth, the pale face—it was Lancelot, after his King’s fall. Not the Saber version at the height of his pride.

“I made sure that you would still exist, if that is really Galahad in there.” Lancelot continued, picking up the sword he had dropped. “I pinpointed it to after Lady Elaine had her way with my body. You would still be the pride and joy of Camelot. You would still win the grail. You would only have to defeat our King in battle to be knighted, rather than me.”

He raised the sword again, holding it high above his head.

“I tried to get the King to punish me, yet she still refuses. Be happy for me, Galahad, for we have found the same happiness. I have seen all that I need to see. Now I shall go to Hell, and when you return to Heaven, we shall never meet again.”

**_“STOP IT!”_ **

Mash’s voice was a piercing cry lancing the other through his chest, and he was so plainly not expecting it that he fumbled a little, glancing back behind him.

“Sir Lancelot—stop it! Nobody wants you to die this way! Not even Galahad—he doesn’t hate you like this!”

Lancelot plunged down the sword, and Mash changed in an instant, the great broad shield appearing as she blocked it in against the center.

Mash was shaking. Lancelot was, as well. His eyes small and shrunken, he looked as if he would change any moment from a mourning man in a dark suit to the Black Knight.

Mash started crying.

“Sir Lancelot, is it because of those things I said in Camelot? I know—I know I was mean to you, then, but it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Galahad’s true feelings, either! He was just angry—he was just angry because he was trapped in me for such a long time! He doesn’t hate you—I promise he doesn’t!”

Mash was shaking, and Lancelot could see, in his heart, that she was just a little girl. His son had left her so long ago that there was nothing of him in there but the weapon.

He had been mistaken.

Still, he could wipe her memory. He still knew enough of his old magic to do so.

“I would disappear from time, and you would have no memory of me. That is how these cases work. The timeline would correct itself. You would still exist.”

**_“NO!”_ **

Her voice, again, was strong.

“No—Sir Lancelot, that’s wrong! I know—I know it’s tough but stop that! She forgave you, and that’s all that should matter! It’s selfish to take yourself away when Sir Gawain would miss you, too! You make Sir Gawain happy! And you make Senpai happy, too!”

Lancelot’s hollow eyes found her again. Mash covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from getting sick after knowing what he was trying to do.

“Camelot would be happier without me.”

**_“STOP BEING SUCH A COWARD!”_ **

Mash screamed, getting to her feet.

“You hate yourself—fine! I get it! People also hate you! I still hate you, father! I still do! But I don’t want you gone!”

Her hair covered her eyes. Lancelot took a step away from his son.

They were in the time of Camelot. It would take a mere moment for Galahad to slip back into his old form.

“I did everything for you! I regret what I did! I regret telling heaven I wanted to die when I did! I regret not stopping you—I regret not being there to protect you! I regret never getting to hear you say you love me!”

Mash’s voice cracked.

“I pushed you away—I still pushed you away. I still wanted to hear you say you loved me.”

Lancelot sank to his knees. He reached out, holding Mash by her legs, a man in defeat. Galahad in her body sank as well.

“I was _always_ proud of you. I _always_ loved you.”

Galahad—Mash—was silent. Lancelot could almost feel her passing out in his arms.

* * *

Mash yawned at the breakfast table, taking off her glasses and resting her cheek against it while a bowl of oatmeal was presented to her.

Looking up, she saw someone she’d never seen before. A man in a dark suit with long hair, and deep-set, shadowed eyes.

Sitting up, she took off her glasses, polished them, and set them back on her face.

“Who are you?” She asked, and the man looked away.

“Berserker. Lancelot-Berserker.”

Mash braced herself, expecting to feel the strange anger, but she never did.

“You’re not in your armor.”

“…no. Please, Ms. Kyrielight, eat.”

The Shielder picked up the bowl, humming.

“May I call you Mash?” He suddenly asked, and the Shielder blinked.

“Ummm…I guess?”

Lancelot, for the first time anyone had ever seen him, smiled to himself, as Mash started to eat.

**Author's Note:**

> I just kind of love making Lancelot suffer, that's about it.
> 
> And also fluff at the end.
> 
> I'm half tempted to do a modern au with Galahad and Mash.


End file.
